Online Library of Liberty

About Liberty Matters

"LIBERTY MATTERS"

A FORUM FOR THE DISCUSSION
OF MATTERS PERTAINING TO LIBERTY

Introduction

"Liberty Matters" is devoted to the discussion of ideas
pertaining to liberty. We have asked leading scholars and invited guest commentators
to reflect upon how some of the authors whose works are part of the
Online Library of Liberty have defended individual liberty,
limited government, free markets, and peace over the past 300 years. The OLL
has many scholarly collections which can be drawn upon for this purpose. See
below for details about our collections of the works of key
figures and the
founders of the American Republic. For a sampling of
what some of the authors in the OLL collection have thought about important
topics see our collection of quotations which have
been organized thematically.

Each discussion will be based upon a "Lead Essay" written by a leading
scholar in the field to which other scholars will respond in shorter essays,
critiques, and comments. The Lead Essay will be posted in the first week of
every second month beginning in January 2013. The "Response Essays" will be
posted a week later and then the authors will be able to reply to each other's
posts in the weeks that follow. Wherever possible we will link the discussion
to the books, biographies, bibliographies, essays, and other material in the
OLL collection. This is especially the case when the scholars refer to actual
passages in the book under discussion. We will provide a link from each quoted
passage to the paragraph in the original book where this can be found. This
is to enable and encourage readers to read the book for themselves and make
their own assessment of the validity of the points being made in the discussion.
We hope teachers and students will make use of this material in the classroom.

Each "Liberty Matters" discussion will be posted as one file in
order to make it possible for teachers and students to print it for classroom
or private use. At the beginning of the month the page will appear online with
empty place-holders for what is to follow later in the month. These will be
filled in as the discussion and conversation progresses over the course of
the month.

The images in our banner have a special meaning for us. The one on the left
is the "amagi" symbol which is the logo of Liberty Fund. It is the
cuneiform script which is believed to be the first written
expression of the word "liberty." It appears in a reform of a legal
code by the Sumerian King
Urukagina in about 2,350 BC. The image on the right is the Seal of the
Magistrates of the Ten of Liberty and Peace of the city of Florence. In early
16th century Florence, when Niccolo
Machiavelli (1469-1527) was working as
a diplomat for the city state, the seal of the Magistrates of the Ten of Liberty
and Peace was an image of a dove holding an olive branch in its beak with the
following Latin motto "S. Pax et Defensio Libertatis" (Peace and
the Defence of Liberty). It can be found in volume 3 of Machiavelli's Historical,
Political, and Diplomatic Writings.

Copyright & Fair Use Statement

"Liberty Matters" is the copyright of Liberty Fund, Inc. This material
is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. These
essays and responses may be quoted and otherwise used under "fair
use" provisions for educational and academic purposes. To reprint these
essays in course booklets requires the prior permission of Liberty Fund, Inc.
Please contact the OLL Editor if you have any questions.